Is skiing out of the reach of most people now?

[Gasometer]

So looking at some accoomodation on some of Vic Mountains and whoah they are expensive...I know you can stay down in the towns around the Mts, but it made me start to look closer and wonder if skiing is now (or already was??) out of the price range for Mr Joe Averagefamily?

Edit...great now I have spelt skiing incorrectly in the title...how do you fix that!?

 

[Matty_G]

Sure isn't cheap. Went snowboarding for the first time last year - borrowed all the gear off mates except for the board/bindings. Can't remember exact prices but equiment hire was $100ish, lift pass was $100ish, food & drink probably $40ish and that was just for one day, didn't even stay the night!

Having said that it was great fun, will do it again but probably only a once a year thing at that cost.

 

[Selective Retention]

The joke isn't that Collingwood and Richmond supporters head off to the snow....

TBH doesn't interest me at all. Not one bit.

 

[RUNVS]

Its a bit cheaper if you are willing to drive a bit further to get to the ski fields.

 

[Stratton_Gun]

Not Melbourne supporters

 

[Plugger35]

It's pretty difficult to ski in WA, we get a bit of snow down on the Stirling Ranges once every few years but you would want to be quick or it will melt away.

 

[Dont be a lemon]

I would have thought that unless you live near a ski field it would have always been fairly expensive. Ever notice most of Australia's Winter Olympians are upper-middle class and live in Europe/North America?

 

[CLUBMEDhurst]

Skiing?

Isn't that for tossers?

 

[Dazb86]

I've heard it's actually cheaper to go to NZ and ski if you are going for an extended time.

 

[Quivorir]

Would love to go snowboarding at least once, have never even seen snow. But yes, prices are ridiculous. Wouldnt be too bad if I had the gear at least though.

 

[Igloo]

I've also never seen snow. I'd like to do so before passing my judgement on their prices, but I can imagine it would be expensive.

 

[THRILLHO]

I've heard it's actually cheaper to go to NZ and ski if you are going for an extended time.

I think Jetstar flies direct from Melbourne to Queenstown and they had a sale recently with decent (ish) airfares. Something like $300-350 return. Wasn't there in ski season but it wasn't hard to imagine how beautiful it would look with snow.

I'd rather fly to Queenstown than go to the Vic skifields and I live in Melbourne and regularly go back to hometown of Albury and could easily nip up there for a night.

 

[THRILLHO]

I've also never seen snow. I'd like to do so before passing my judgement on their prices, but I can imagine it would be expensive.

Imagine the most overrated thing (in your case, North young guns) and listen to people talk up how amazing it is only to be completely disappointed when you experience it first hand.

 

[Igloo]

Imagine the most overrated thing (in your case, North young guns) and listen to people talk up how amazing it is only to be completely disappointed when you experience it first hand.

Don't be like that THRILLHO But yeah, I've heard people explain it like that before.

 

[17beams]

Imagine the most overrated thing (in your case, North young guns) and listen to people talk up how amazing it is only to be completely disappointed when you experience it first hand.

^Well arn't you a glass half full type.
It is quite expensive to go up to the mountains in Vic but you could reduce those costs quite a bit if you plan ahead and are willing to make a few sacrifices. The big money saver would be to catch a bus up to the mountain from Mansfield if you are planing on staying up on the mountain for a while. It cost my friend and I 135 dollars to enter the mountain and park the car for the night, plus you won't need to hire chains either. Also borrow as much snow gear as possible and you'll save alot. Being a student I saved a heap of money but still for one nights accomadation and one day snowboarding plus food and drinks it cost me around 300 dollars for the whole trip. That all said I've been up with my family and more recently just with my friends and it is my favourite place to get away to and I always have a ton of fun. However like everything it isn't for everyone and people's opinion's will all differ but you'll never know untill you try it.

 

[crazyman27]

My advice: Put the trip off and save up enough to go to Europe in winter (make it part of a longer trip).

Put bluntly, the snowfields in Australia suck compared to those in Europe. They are massively overpriced, hard to get to and there's limited runs and lifts.

I spent 3 days skiing in the Austrian Alps paying 20 Euros a night accommodation in a hostel. There was a train station in the main street (you had to cross the railway line to get to the ski-lifts) with at least 2 trains going past a day and after 3 days I had barely scratched the surface of the ridiculous amount of runs.

To sum it up, Mt Hotham has 13 lifts in total and its longest run is 2.5km. The Gastein Valley in Austria has 50 lifts and a longest run of 8km. If you ask somebody in Austria what they're doing on the weekend during winter, they'll tell you they're going skiing.

 

[La Dispute]

I've heard it's actually cheaper to go to NZ and ski if you are going for an extended time.

Plus better places to ski I'd imagine.

I've never been skiing myself but I reckon it'd be great to go overseas and hit the Austrian slopes.

 

[Caesar]

I've heard it's actually cheaper to go to NZ and ski if you are going for an extended time.

There was a report in the Age the other weekend saying that the a weekend for a family of 4 at Falls Creek is going to be an estimated $3,700 next winter thanks to potentially 50% increases in lift and accommodation prices. The price of alpine leases is growing astronomically as of next year.

I have been skiing in the northern hemisphere (mostly Japan) for a few years now because the nature of my work doesn't allow me any time off during July/August. As long as I get cheap flights (and I usually do because I book a long way in advance) I don't actually pay that much more per diem than people who ski in Australia. Sure I stay in much more basic accommodation and don't eat out much, but I'm basically there to ski 8-9 hours a day and sleep so I don't care. Because it's further away I go for longer and thus pay more overall, but I'm an addict so I'm happy to cut corners elsewhere to get my fix.

Overall, I still don't think it is out of reach for most people. I have mates who are poor uni students who nonetheless get a long weekend every season just by saving religiously the whole year, going to cheaper resorts and staying in YHAs etc.

I do think it's getting to the point though that for a lot of people, the money is better spent elsewhere. Skiing has always been bloody expensive, and these days you'd be hard pressed to say that the cost is rationally justifiable. Unless you really love skiing, it's just not worth it.